Gross
by hiddenheart519
Summary: It was a normal day at the Lie house for Lie Ren and his best friend Nora Valkyrie, but a comment from Ren's parents make the afternoon take an unexpected turn. Set before Beacon with appearances from Ren's parents and mention of Nora's.


"You know, Mister Lie, I really do like living here," Nora Valkyrie said happily, popping a grape into her mouth. She was sixteen and had short ginger hair and turquoise eyes. She was sitting on the arm of the couch in her best friend's living room, one foot on the floor so she didn't fall off (she had learned that lesson the hard way… multiple times). In her left hand was a handful of purple grapes, which she was expertly tossing into the air and catching in her mouth.

To her right on the couch, Lie Rokai chuckled, flipping through the channels on the TV. Rokai had short black hair, dark green eyes, and a kind face. "You don't _live_ here, Nora. You _stay_ here."

Nora laughed. "There's a room in this house filled with _my_ clothes, _my_ bed, _my_ everything-else, where only _I_ sleep." Nora paused. "Well, Ren slept there a few times, but now he can't. Anyways," she continued, returning to the topic, "I think that means I live here."

"Don't you miss your dad?" Rokai asked her.

Nora gave a slight shrug. "Well, yeah. He hasn't been around much though, and I'm over here half the time even _when_ he's home." Nora paused. "I think he has a girlfriend."

Rokai looked at her, concern in his eyes. "Does it bother you?"

Nora gave a light smile and a small shrug. "Nah. He hasn't been too happy ever since Mom and Kynda died, and it's nice to see him smiling again," Nora said simply, completely comfortable with talking about her mother and older sister. Both had died in a car crash while driving home from Vacuo when Nora was nine and her father had never been the same since. "I just hope he tells me," Nora continued, grinning, "so I don't have to do something drastic, like steal his Scroll or set up cameras in the car or bug his room."

Rokai laughed, knowing Nora had the intelligence, determination, and technology to resort to such measures if it came to that.

Both Nora and Rokai looked up at the sound of footsteps on the stairs of the Lie house.

Lie Lily, putting earrings in her ears, was walking down the steps. She was thin and tall, dressed in an emerald green tank top and a pair of black shorts. Her ears were double pierced, the lower ones were small black hoops, and the upper holes were lotus-shaped emeralds. Her eyes were an odd shade of magenta and her hair was dark brown and curly, and freckles dotted her face. As she turned toward the kitchen to Nora's left, her gaze flitting over Rokai and Nora. "Nora," she said without looking, "off the couch arm."

"Yes, ma'am," Nora said cheerfully, sliding off onto a cushion. She paused before slipping off the couch and prancing into the kitchen. The floor was made of dark green, black, and white stone tiles and the cupboards were made of a dark wood with an ebony countertop.

"I'm making pancakes," Nora's best friend, Lie Ren, said as he stirred pancake mix in a large bowl. "Would you like some?" Ren had long black hair that he kept tied back in a low ponytail. A single streak of hair was dyed bright pink, a memory of a bet he lost to Nora when they were twelve and he had to dye his entire hair pink. Nora, although Ren was firmly against it, had been so pleased with the display and Ren began dying a strip of his hair pink just to see her smile. He was in more casual clothes than usual, dressed in a pair of dark grey, green, and black plaid sweat pants and a dark grey jersey with his lotus symbol on the back and his last name written above it.

Nora laughed at his question. "Always."

"What kind of question is that, Renkey?" Lily asked, smoothing her son's long hair.

"Mom, I'm not seven anymore. Don't call me Renkey," Ren told his mother without much conviction, secretly liking the childhood nickname his mother had given him. The name came from a time in kindergarten when en's favorite animal had been a monkey. Like Ren, Lily had given Nora a similar nickname, using the fact that Nora's favorite toy when she was six had been a stuffed bear called Sparky.

Lily smiled at her son. "You may no longer be seven, but you're not eighteen either, and you're still my son, so I can call you whatever I like." Louder, she called towards the living room, "Isn't that right, Rokai?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right, Lils," Rokai replied absently, eyes glued to the TV screen.

Lily rolled her eyes, knowing her husband hadn't heard a single word of the conversation.

Nora leaned against the counter next to Ren as he poured pools of pancake mix onto the sizzling, buttery griddle, cooking his delicious breakfast food that was eaten (mainly by Nora, who loved Ren's pancakes as much as she loved the color pink, sloths, explosions, syrup, and her beloved Magnhild) at any time of day.

"Oh, Nora, sweetie," Lily started hesitantly. "I think you're going to have to leave."

Nora's mouth fell open. _Leave?_ She'd never been asked to leave before. Even Ren looked at his mother in surprise.

"It's nothing personal, Nora-bear," Lily reassured her. "Ro and I are going out and we can't leave you two home alone."

"Aw come on now, Lils, don't you trust them?" Rokai chuckled, wrapping his arms around his wife's waist.

"Of course I do, Rokai," Lily said, slightly exasperated, "but they're _sixteen_."

"And they've been friends since they were six. They've been home alone plenty of time in the past ten years," Rokai countered calmly. "Not once have they ever done anything wrong."

Lily sighed. "But they're at that age!" she insisted.

Nora laughed lightly. "Gross."

"See, Lils? They'll be fine. And besides," Rokai grinned at the odd pair of friends, "you can't send poor Nora home while Ren's making _pancakes_!"

Lily gave a half smile. "That would be cruel," she reluctantly agreed, sighing. "Fine. You can stay, Nora-bear."

Nora smiled brightly. "Thanks, Mrs. Lie."

Lily exhaled worriedly. "Cone on, Ro," she murmured, taking her husband by the hand and leading (read: _dragging_ ) him to the front door.

"Don't burn the house down!" Rokai called jokingly.

"Of course not, Dad," Ren replied, unfazed.

"And don't do anything _bad_ , you two," Rokai added as he was pulled out the door, flashing Ren and Nora a suggestive look.

Nora laughed. "Gross!" she called as the door closed and locked.

There was a long pause while Nora silently watched Ren flip the pancakes, lost in thought.

"Ren?" Nora asked after a long minute.

"Yes, Nora?" the dark haired boy replied without looking at her.

"Your parents know we aren't _together_ -together, right?" the ginger asked thoughtfully.

"I should think so," Ren told her calmly, adding to himself, _You say it often enough_. Ren paused, waiting for Nora to fill the silence with a thousand words, but she stayed mute. Ren moved to put the pancakes on the platter that rested on the counter where Nora leaned. The girl shifted so he could reach the platter without getting too close to her.

"Then why would they think that?" Nora asked.

"You're a girl. I'm a guy," Ren said simply even though he was unsure of his own answer. "We're sixteen and home alone.

Nora moved back to her original place as Ren turned to lather the griddle in sizzling butter and pour more pools of batter on the heated surface.

Nora pursed her lips. It was the same thing Lily had said, but it told her nothing. "So?" she asked, not seeing what was so bad.

"SO," Ren replied, faintly flustered, "what do you think any two normal sixteen-year-olds would do in this situation?"

So it wasn't just because it was her alone with him. It wasn't because his parents thought-or suspected-either of them harbored feelings for the other.

Nora wasn't completely sure how she felt about that.

She narrowed her turquoise eyes suspiciously at him. "Are you saying we're not normal?"

"Not many people can say they've known their best friend since they were six. Or that said best friend was of the opposite gender," Ren told her.

"We are pretty unusual," Nora admitted. Then she paused, thinking. "But a good unusual," she decided, nodding.

Ren gave the one of his rare, tiny half-smile only Nora could break from him. "That we are," he agreed.

There was another pause. Ren flipped pancakes. Nora studied countertop. More silence.

"Ren?" Nora asked softly.

"Yes, Nora?" Ren replied in a low voice to match Nora's.

"What if..." Nora took a deep breath, heart racing in her chest. "What if we _were_ like that?"

"Like what?" Ren asked without looking at her.

"Like normal people," she said quietly. _He_ _**has**_ _to make this difficult…_

"Then... I suppose... that would mean we liked each other," Ren told her, his heartbeat speeding up as he fought to keep his voice even. He skillfully scooped the pancakes up on the spatula in his hand.

"Like... _like_ -like?" Nora asked in a voice so quiet it was nearly a breath.

"Mm hm..." he breathed simply, sliding the pancakes onto the platter next to Nora.

This time the ginger didn't move.

"So..." Nora breathed, finally looking Ren in the eye, and he found he couldn't look away as he softly let the spatula and pancakes rest on the platter. "When people _like_ -like each other... they kiss don't they?" She gave an almost imperceptive step forward, and they were so close she feared he would hear her pounding heart.

"I assume so," Ren agreed softly, shifting his weight so he stood even close but still not touching.

Nora smiled and gave a light, breathy laugh. "Gross..."

Her mind was racing. This was how it worked, right? You discretely opened up the opportunity for it and then you kiss. At least, that's how it happened in the books she read and the movies Ren watched. Then her heart nearly stopped. Oh great Oum, he was going to kiss her!

She closed her eyes as he drew close. There was a split second where Nora wasn't sure if their lips touched or if she had just imagined the feather-light contact.

Suddenly the front door swung open and the house was filled with the sound of footsteps and creaking hinges.

Nora's already-racing heart exploded in her chest as she and Ren jumped stiffly away from each other, eyes wide and staring at the front door.

"Forgot my Scroll!" Rokai announced without looking at the wide-eyed pair, grabbing his Scroll from the couch and waltzing back out the door without another word.

Nora's bright eyes turned from the door to Ren, but Ren was focusing on turning off the griddle as if nothing different had passed between the two childhood friends.

Nora's chest was aching and she was trying to steady her breathing, uncertain if her heart beat so loudly from the shock of Rokai's surprise arrival or nervousness from the sliver of a moment between her and Ren.

"The pancakes are ready," Ren announced mildly.

Nora paused, still gaping slightly at him. How can he just ignore it? She gulped. If he didn't want to acknowledge what happened, fine. She wouldn't either. Why risk their friendship over something so trivia as an almost-kiss? Nora sighed quietly. _Trivial._ That sounded stupid, even to her.

She plastered on a beaming smile. "Yum!"

But she wasn't hungry anymore.


End file.
